Oil rally seeps through into stocks
British Petroleum (#bp) saw its share price rise today thanks to soaring profits due to the sustained rise in oil prices since the start of the year. BP profits jumped as Q1 production rose to 3.7 million barrels per day, up 6% from the same period a year ago.
Oil prices have gained nearly 25% in the past year, with a particularly pronounced spike in recent days due to the threat of new sanctions being placed on Iran by the US. It's still broadly expected that Trump will scrap the Iranian nuclear deal, despite the best efforts of Emmanuel Macron of France and Angela Merkel of Germany, who both visited Washington recently, partly to try and dissuade the President from ending the agreement conceived by Barack Obama.
However, sanctions might be the least of Iran's worries. Regime change seems ever more plausible, given that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled evidence in a televised address this week which showed Iran had been developing a secret nuclear program. Whether the evidence (photos, videos, documents and more) can be verified is questionable, but it is sure to encourage war hawks like John Bolton in Trump's cabinet to consider military action. Given he already sought pre-emptive strikes on Iran in the past, it's not an implausible scenario.
Via: https://invstr.com/